I wasn't expecting to do Class of 2009 commitment stories just yet, but Texan Jessica Alexander verbally committed to Florida last week, so I spoke to her about it for at
a story today at The Tennis Recruiting Network. With Alexander planning on joining her sister Megan on the Gator team in January or 2009, it's actually not that much earlier than those who decide in October where they will be going the following August.
When we were in Tampa last month for
the Florida sectional 18s tournament, it looked as if the City of Tampa Tennis Complex at Hillsborough Community College was going to close, after the city did not renew its lease. Facilities with 16 hard courts and 12 clay courts are hard to find, and fortunately, there is now at least optimism that a long-term solution will be found to keep the complex open. Gary Shepherd has the details in
this story for
Play Tennis Florida.The 18s National Open that was expected to be the last tournament held at HCC finished on Wednesday, with 16-year-old Jadon Phillips and 14-year-old Danielle Collins taking titles there. In the other three 18s National Opens, Dennis Nevolo and Rachel White won in Cincinnati; David Nguyen and Ellen Tsay (like Collins, 14 years old) took home trophies from Waco; Catherine Isip and Kyle McMorrow (Alexander isn't the only one committing early) were winners in Hawaii. The Hawaii section posted a
story on the final matches here (try to overlook the misspelled winner's name and other typos).
For the other age divisions, please see
the TennisLink site.
